Jawbone Up Bracelet Tracks Sleep and Exercise, Doesn’t Do Much Else

Some gadgets just make you wonder why the company even bothered in the first place and I think I’d have to place the Jawbone Up — no relation to the old guy with the balloons — in that category. It’s sort of like those rubber wristbands that all the cool kids wear, but it serves more of a healthy purpose.

You see, the Up is designed to track what your body is doing through the day. You’re supposed to wear it while you work, while you eat, while you sleep, and while you work out. Just keep it on you all day and the embedded accelerometer tracks your movements and sleeping habits. I’m not sure how it really does the latter, but there you go.

There is an accompanying app, which will likely show up on iOS and Android at the very least. That way you can chart your habits and see whether you’re getting enough exercise or sleep, and adjust your life accordingly. Whether or not this works depends on how well the software works, as well as how hard you work to correct the shortcomings in your lifestyle. Oddly, the Up doesn’t use Bluetooth, unlike the countlessly wonderful Jawbone headsets out there. Instead, it plugs into the headphone jack on your phone.

I guess I should applaud Jawbone for broadening its horizons, but this probably wasn’t the best way to do it.